Early Resolution for Disputes

by John Flynn Rooney

When The Toro Co. launched its own mediation program to handle products liability claims in the early 1990s, company officials wanted to move away from a scorched-earth policy to defend
against those claims. Toro now takes
a different tack in dealing with claimants.
The expansion of alternative dispute resolutio is occurring nationally and internationally in places such as Europe and South America
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Avoiding Mediation Impasse

by Stuart M. Widman

Like any dispute resolution process, mediation requires preparation and adaptive thinking. Listed below are
helpful hints – to both mediators and counsel – in order to lead to a fully successful mediation. A mediation
can still be successful, even if not fully settled, if the parties are able to resolve some, even if not all, of their issues.
Thus, there can also be many bridges of smaller impasses by following these suggestions.
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Co-Mediation: A Success Story at Chicago's Rush Medical Center

By Richard Blatt, Max Brown, and Hon. Jerome Lerner

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) processes can be extremely flexible, and they need not fit traditional approaches. This is especially true in private mediation, where the parties can come
together to seek resolution of their disputes in informal, creative, and even unorthodox ways. These are often referred to as “hybrid” ADR processes. As these hybrid methods are seen to be successful, they become more widely used, and one hybrid method that is gaining an increased following is co-mediation.
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Mending the Broken Relationship

by Eric Routman

In the world of commerce, productive mediation is frequently an end game for the disputants. If the mediator is successful, the adversaries go their separate ways, counting their money or what is left of it, and probably each hoping to never see that expletive
deleted “other guy” again. Certainly there are many situations where that truly is the best possible result for all sides involved. However, as mediators, we do our clients a disservice if we do not at least consider whether a better result for the parties is one where they can continue on in a productive commercial relationship.
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Preparing for Mediation:
Pre-Mediation Submissions

by Rena Barron and Jennifer Morrow, MDR

Once agreement is reached to mediate, or an order has been filed by a judge, and selection of the mediator is made, there are several critical factorsfor counsel to consider in preparing for a productive mediation session. One such critical factor discussedin this article is preparing effective pre-mediation submissions. First, the value of pre-mediation submissions will be explored; then, key factors regarding confidentiality, length, content and timing will be considered.
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Caucus Mediation: 
The Zen of Peacemaking Mediation

by Rena Barron and Jennifer Morrow, MDR

Caucus mediation is an excellent alternative to litigation.  It incorporates the art of conciliation and peacemaking into the mediation process.  Compared to litigation, caucus mediation is time-efficient and creates an atmosphere not only most conducive to creative settlement outcomes, but one that supports the healing and reconciliation of the parties to a dispute. 
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Judges, ADR Practitioners Assess Progress and Seek Out Ways to Improve

from Chicago Daily Law Bulletin

Retired Cook County judge Anthony J. Bosco presided over a mediation last fall involving a family with three children involved in a car accident that ended their long-planned vacation to Walt Disney World. When negotiations between the family and the insurance company began to stall, and the insurance company began to stall, movement. Family members, he said, wanted the memories they were denied.
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